It was a sad week for Bollywood. Two veteran actors – Irrfan Khan and Rishi Kapoor- passed way in the gap of a day. Irrfan passed away on Wednesday at the age of 53 and had been battling a rare form of cancer since 2018. Rishi, the scion of Bollywood's most famous Kapoor family, died on Thursday morning. He was 67 and had leukemia.
Rishi Kapoor was hospitalized in Mumbai on Wednesday and died on Thursday, according to a family statement. He returned to India last September after undergoing treatment in the United States for almost a year. He was hospitalized twice in February.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi said Kapoor was a powerhouse of talent. “I will always recall our interactions, even on social media. He was passionate about films and India’s progress.”
His father Raj Kapoor and grandfather Prithviraj Kapoor were doyens of Bollywood, the vast Hindi-language film industry based in the western coastal city of Mumbai. He received the National Film Award for his debut role as a child artist in his father’s 1970 film "Mera Naam Joker.” He acted in more than 90 films.
His wife, Nitu Singh, co-starred in several of his films. His son Ranbir Kapoor is a current top Bollywood actor. He is survived by his wife, a son and a daughter. Kapoor’s popular hits included “Laila Majnu,” a story of legendary Indian lovers, “Debt," "Moonlight," “Sometimes,” “Sea” and “Lightning.” In 1999, he directed “Let’s Go Back.” He switched to supporting roles in the 2000s and popular movies included “Namastey London” and “Love Aj Kal” or “Love Today and Tomorrow.” He acted until recently and his last movie ”The Body” was released in 2019.
Irrfan is survived by his wife Sutapa Sikdar and sons – Babil and Ayan. The actor was admitted to Mumbai’s Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital on Tuesday, where was under observation for colon infection. Irrfan lost his 95-year-old mother Saeeda Begum in Jaipur just three days ago. He could not attend his mother’s funeral because of the nationwide lockdown.
“I trust, i have surrendered”; these were the some of the many words that Irrfan expressed in a heartfelt note he wrote in 2018, opening up about his fight with cancer. He was a man of few words, and an actor of silent expressions with his deep eyes and his memorable actions on screen.
He had undergone treatment abroad for several months in 2019, working on just one project in that time, director Homi Adajania’s “Angrezi Medium.” He was one of the few Indian actors who tasted big success, both in Bollywood and Hollywood.
Irrfan, who was born Saahabzaade Irfan Ali Khan in Jaipur in 1967, was the son a tyre businessman. In 2011, the veteran actor was awarded Padma Shri for his contribution to the arts. Some of his famous films were: “Piku,” “The Lunchbox,” “Paan Singh Tomar,” “Maqbool,” “The Warrior,” “Life of Pi,” “Slumdog Millionaire,” “The Amazing Spiderman,” “Jurassic World” etc.
